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Two months into the season the media and basketball junkies worldwide are going to be talking about the New Orleans Hornets and Chris Paul as if they just crawled out of the swamp to become one of the better teams in the Western Conference. When that happens remember this post.

You see, the memory of NBA fans can be compared to a stoned elephant, or perhaps a goldfish swimming in Everclear. As soon as something new and flashy comes along or an completely fluke injury occurs to a star player they do a 180 on their stance, sometimes completely contradicting their previous sentiment.

Think about it for a second- Two years ago the Hornets were considered dark horse title contenders. ESPN experts had them as the second most likely team to win the NBA title. They weren't unrealistic though, and had the foresight to essentially predict what would wind up happening.

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This just in from NOLA.com:

The New Orleans Hornets are close to finalizing a three-team trade deal this morning that will send Mike James to the Washington Wizards in exchange for guard Antonio Daniels.

The trade deal also includes the Memphis Grizzlies. Since Tuesday, the Wizards with the Grizzlies have been trade negotiations.

The Grizzlies are trying to obtain a conditional draft pick from the Wizards.

Initial thoughts: This is a great trade for us. James and Daniels have almost identical contracts (about $6.5 million owed to both this season and next), so we're not losing much there. Meanwhile, the 6-4 Daniels should be able to come in and give us reliable minutes at point guard, his natural position. He has career averages of 7.9 points and 3.5 assists, and was averaging 5.1 and 3.6 in 22 minutes a night for the Wiz this season.

Relevant linkage as I find it:

• Daniels' career stats
• Hornets Salaries | Wizards Salaries
  
• Hornets Report thread
• Hometown Hornets
• At The Hive
• Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
• Hornets Asylum thread
• John DeShazier's take

UPDATE: From the Washington Post...

The Wizards will acquire guards Javaris Crittenton (Memphis) and Mike James (New Orleans). The Hornets will get Antonio Daniels from the Wizards and possibly a conditional draft pick from Memphis. The Grizzlies would get the conditional first round pick they sent to Washington for Juan Carlos Navarro before last season.

Image credit: Dariusz Ejkiewicz.